1. Field: The invention is in the field of manipulators for helical springs, which are often referred to as coil springs.
2. State of the Art: Helical spring manipulators presently available are designed to either compress, stretch, or wind up a helical spring. As such, these devices are usually quite complex, and many rely on a jack or other screw device for imparting a mechanical advantage to the user. None of the available spring manipulators are especially adapted for quickly, easily, and successively stretching and manipulating closely coiled, strong, extension type helical springs relative to an anchoring device, such a trampoline. Manipulation, as well as stretching of the springs, is necessary when assembling or disassembling a trampoline, or when replacing a failed spring, since it is necessary to not only stretch the spring longitudinally but also to move the anchoring end of the spring transversely, more or less, in order to engage or disengage it, such as by hooking or unhooking it, relative to a frame or a jump sheet. Existing spring manipulators do not provide for this and are not readily applicable to trampolines. Moreover, they are not easily accommodated by the space available in trampolines. Consequently, trampoline springs are usually installed and removed by hand, entailing considerable difficulty and sometimes damage to the equipment or injury to the hands.
Accordingly, it was a principle objective in the making of the present invention to provide a simple, inexpensive hand-operated tool for use in attaching or detaching a loop at the end of a helical spring to an anchoring device, which tool permits motion of the manipulated end of the spring simultaneously in both a longitudinal and a transverse direction, can provide a mechanical advantage when required depending upon how it is used, without the use of a screw mechanism, and is adaptable to being used in a confined space.